PORT TOWNSEND – Ferry travelers crossing between Port Townsend and Keystone can expect an earlier-than-normal one-boat run after Sept. 9 – 20 days early, said Mike Anderson, Washington State Ferries executive director.
He and the new state Secretary of Transportation, Paula Hammond spoke with a group on Tuesday about a plan to create smaller ferries specifically for the Port Townsend-Keystone run.
Anderson said that Coast Guard inspectors declined to approve another extension for the ferry Nisqually, which was ordered to have its concrete in the hull removed for closer inspections.
That means that the one-boat winter run between Port Townsend and Keystone on Whidbey Island, which would ordinarily begin on Sept. 29, will begin early.
“As you can see, we’re doing a bit of a balancing act to improve the vessels and keep them safe,” Anderson told members of the Port Townsend-Keystone Ferry Route Partnership Group during a meeting in Port Townsend .
